APPLIANCE DOCTOR SENTENCED

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Larry Long said today that nineteen South Dakota consumers will receive restitution from the "Appliance Doctor." Larry Earl Haynes, a/k/a the "Appliance Doctor" pled guilty to embezzlement, a Class 4 felony, on Monday in Sioux Falls.

The Attorney General and Haynes reached a plea agreement under which Haynes must pay over $3,000 to the nineteen South Dakota consumers. Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Severson accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Haynes to five years in the State Penitentiary. Judge Severson suspended the sentence on several conditions, most notably that Haynes pay back the nineteen consumers; that he have no further contact with the consumers; and that he not perform any appliance repair in South Dakota for at least five years. Haynes must also serve 120 days in county jail.

The Attorney General filed criminal charges against Haynes in February 2004 after numerous consumers filed complaints with the Consumer Protection Division regarding Haynes' failure to complete repair work in a satisfactory manner. Three consumers complained that Haynes took money up front and failed to perform any work, which formed the basis of the embezzlement plea.

Haynes, 39, San Antonio, TX, started the Appliance Doctor business in Sioux Falls in August 2003, and he shut the business down in early December 2003 after being contacted by the Consumer Protection Division. He fled from the criminal charges and was apprehended as a fugitive in San Antonio in September on the outstanding South Dakota warrant.

Haynes must also pay $1,000 to the Attorney General as reimbursement for costs, $1,153 to Minnehaha County for costs, and $495 to the South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation for his failure to pay taxes. Haynes total restitution amount is over $5,500.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Paul Cremer and investigation was conducted by the Consumer Protection Division.

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